Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

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This month, Sikhs celebrated the appointment of Guru Hargobind as the sixth Guru of the Sikhs in 1606, following the execution of the preceding Guru, Guru Arjun, by the Mughal emperor Jehangir for refusing to convert to Islam. Born to a prophecy that he would crush tyranny, Guru Hargobind represented a metamorphosis for the Sikh people — manifesting more than just spiritual practice but worldly practice as well. The commemoration of his ascension as Guru is a timely coincidence, for […]

The Sikh prayer called Ardaas (link) is an address before the All-Pervasive Immortal that is offered regularly by Sikhs in congregation. It concludes every service and is often offered ahead of an undertaking of a task by Sikhs to seek the Divine’s blessings and protection. The prayer is a defined set of verses that recounts Sikh history: the Gurus, those who sacrificed themselves, and custom verse at the end by the congregation specific to the context of the occasion. The Ardaas […]

Last week, the Sikh community around the world celebrated the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru (and last in human form) who was born on January 5, 1666. The specific date of the anniversary has been clouded with (almost ridiculous) confusion as various elements within the community debate the use of various Sikh calendar constructs. According to the Nanakshahi calendar, the anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh’s birth was on January 5. The actual date on which we […]

The largest of its kind in America, the 34th annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan (Sikh religious procession) is taking place this weekend, centered at the Sikh Temple Yuba City in Yuba City, California. The festivities begin on Friday, November 1, and culminates in the religious procession on Sunday, November 3: Yuba City Annual Sikh Inauguration Festival Events Schedule: Friday: 8 pm Kirtan Darbar followed by fireworks. Saturday: 9am Raising of Nishan Sahib Sikh flag followed by kirtan. 2 pm Open […]

There has been significant conversation from and within the Sikh community in regard to the recent hate attack on Dr. Prabhjot Singh a few weeks ago, of the response, and about what is needed to prevent future attacks and discrimination. Citing the story of Bhai Mani Singh (who was brutally executed in 1737), Simran Jeet Singh discusses the concept of victimhood (or lack therof) in the Sikh faith to provide context around the reaction by many Sikhs to the attack […]

On A Kaur’s Thoughts, blogger Lakhpreet Kaur considers the physical identity that defines or describes the Sikh woman, asking: what does a Kaur look like? …since the Kaur’s physical identity is in constant flux and not universally consistent, it is difficult to say Kaurs are visually different from non-Kaurs. The social category of “Kaur,” is not as solidified as “Singh,” because it is impossible to define what Kaur physically looks like. What is she not? How is a Kaur visually […]

On Slant of Light, Ravleen Kaur, a college student in Oregon, reflects about her father’s passion for collecting coins, particularly those struck during the era of Sikh rule in Punjab, India, and other historic relics: “You know, you know, legend goes,” Papa says, his cheekbones rising and nostrils flaring as they do when he shares oddball knowledge and fun facts, “that when the Sikhs took power in Punjab, they sometimes stamped their seal over old coins instead of minting new […]

On The Jewish Journal, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin considers his Sikh American neighbors a year after the Oak Creek, Wisconsin mass shooting: Maybe they should consider modifying the turban requirement, and just make it optional? How American of me to think that. Sikh men simply know that they have to be at the airport that much earlier. That’s the price they choose to pay for walking a religious road with one foot, and keeping the other foot grounded in Western […]

By coincidence, an article in The Washington Post by Satpal Singh of the World Sikh Council offers a corollary to the recent post about contextualizing God using male-oriented pronouns. Satpal Singh discusses the issue of the status of women and the role that faith must play in promoting gender quality: As a first step, we must stop accusing God of misogyny and of creating women as inferior to men. We must stress in our religious services that God does not […]